Doherty: Above all, Americans need health care

Larry Joe Doherty op-ed originally available at www.statesman.com.

by Larry Joe Doherty

Friday, February 15, 2008

When I was 14, my hip joints stopped working. I could not sit down without pain or walk without a limp. When my brother married, I did not sit down all day so my legs would be "adjusted" to standing and I could act as groomsman. My father was a butcher, and my mother a grocery clerk. They worked hard every day, but they had little money and no health insurance. For a year, my conditioned worsened until I could not walk without crutches. Then Dr. Richard Eppright, a prominent Houston surgeon, offered to perform the surgery I needed on payment terms my parents could afford — $5 a week.

The health care I received enabled me to go on to college, then law school, have a great career as a trial lawyer, appear as a judge on Texas Justice, marry and raise two fine children, and enjoy a softball game from time to time. But the scars on my legs are a constant reminder of how different my life could have been.

I believe health care is the birthright of every citizen, and I am passionate about making sure it is available to all.

The United States is the only country in the developed world that does not guarantee access to health care as a right of citizenship. We spend more on health care than any of these countries, but we aren't getting our money's worth. I believe there are three reasons for this: postponements, paperwork and profits.

By postponements, I mean the system fails to help those in need early. Sick Americans wait, hoping to get better. More and more uninsured Americans end up relying on the emergency room to treat illnesses. It's no accident that 50 percent of bankruptcy filings stem from health care costs. A system that delays care leads to both sicker Americans and steep financial costs for the individual and the taxpayer.

Paperwork is shorthand for high administrative costs. Anyone who has applied for coverage from their insurance carrier knows about paperwork. Doctors especially know the cost of hiring staff —not for treating patients — but for processing paperwork. Inefficient and fragmented payment systems drive up administrative costs for doctors and hospitals, which are forced to deal with hundreds of different insurance plans. Each plan covers different procedures and medicines and has its own complicated rules. Excess paperwork adds an estimated 25 percent to our health care costs.

Profits are a great component of the free market, but the drive for greater profits by insurance companies and drug companies is increasing health care costs, not cutting them. Now, I do not believe that we should force anyone happy with his or her health insurance program to change, but we can provide an alternative for those who want it. A publicly funded health care program modeled on Medicare could control costs and improve care.

Ours is a system that burdens families, taxpayers and hospitals with hardships and costs that could be avoided. In the next few years, Congress will be voting to change the way we provide health care to our citizens. When your representative votes on a health care plan, whose interest will be foremost in his or her mind? Will it be your interest?

I am concerned about corruption and the role it might play in drafting legislation. Perhaps one of the most terrible examples is former U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La. He pushed the Medicare legislation that has increased profits for pharmaceutical companies at the expense of our seniors. Afterward, Tauzin resigned from Congress to become a $2 million a year pharmaceutical lobbyist. Was it illegal? No. But was it wrong? Absolutely.

Practicing law, I've learned that a lawyer must put a client's interest before his or her own. Congress is no different. Our representatives are elected to put the interests of constituents before their own and ahead of the special interests. Last year, my congressman voted against Medicare reform that will turn drug companies' windfall profits into taxpayer savings and lower costs for seniors. Whose interests did he have in mind?

There are 47 million Americans without health care. Nine million of them are children. We owe each of them the same chance to pursue the opportunities and happiness that Dr. Eppright once gave to me.

Doherty, who lives in Washinton County, is a Democratic candidate for the 10th Congressional District.